Promise Me This is Forever (A Delena Proposal)
by CanarySalvatore
Summary: Prequel one-shot to "Save Me A Dance." Damon decides it's time to pop the question to Elena. And with Caroline's assistance, he creates the perfect proposal scenario. A re-creation of their first dance, at Miss Mystic Falls. Delena and Benzo mentioned.
1. Delena Proposal Part 1

_It's been a year since Stefan died, saving Mystic Falls._

 _Caroline has been busy working on opening the boarding school._

 _Elena has been working on her medical degree._

One day in spring, Damon decides to visit Ric at the boarding school. But he finds that Ric has taken the girls on a little field trip and Caroline has stayed behind, working on the school.

Damon walks into the room and spots Caroline arranging some books on the shelf.  
"Be careful you're gonna run into my secret stash of booze" Damon smirked.  
Caroline turns back to face Damon, "I have two small children here, Damon. Your booze is all gone."  
"Does that mean you got rid of it, or you drank it?" He asked with a smirk.  
"Does it seriously matter?" Caroline smirked back.  
Damon walks over to a bookcase and slides aside a few books, in one motion he pulls the back panel loose, pulling out a bottle of bourbon.  
"All of it you say?" He questioned, turing around to show Caroline the bottle.  
Caroline gave him a look, "Seriously?!" she snapped.  
Damon waves the bottle in front of Caroline, inviting her. "Join me for a drink?"  
Caroline crosses her arms, "You know Damon, I'm supposed to be working, not to mention that fact that's it's freaking ten in the morning"  
Damon shrugs, "Has that ever stopped me before?"  
Caroline tilts her head, "You know what, screw it. I could use a drink"  
She follows Damon who was already making his way to the kitchen.

Damon grabs two glasses, setting them down on the counter and pours them both a generous amount of bourbon.  
Caroline sits down at the table and Damon joins her, sitting down across from her.  
After a few sips of their bourbon in silence, Damon decides to inquire, "So, where is my drinking buddy today?"  
Caroline looked up to him, her finger trailing the rim of her glass.  
"He decided to take the girls on a little road trip to get them out of the house. We have been really busy working on the school, I felt he just needed a break" Caroline replied.  
Damon, taking another sip of bourbon, "Well what about you? Don't you need a break too?" He asked.  
Caroline sighs, moving her fingers away from the rim and picks up her glass, swirling her bourbon as she contemplated her response.  
"Well, I try to keep myself busy because it helps me not dwell on all that we have lost."  
Damon looks up at her, giving her a genuine smile. "Yeah, I miss him too."

Caroline sets her drink down, "So.." She paused, "When are you gonna pop the question to Elena, so I can start planning the wedding?"  
Damon took another, longer, sip of bourbon as he mulls his answer over. Damon never really thought of himself settling down, but after meeting Elena, the idea of it didn't seem so bad.  
"Oh I don't know, Caroline. I figured you would plan everything and all I would have to do is show up" Damon teased.  
Caroline rolled her eyes, "Well, that may be true. But you still have to ask her."  
Damon scoffs teasingly, finishing off his bourbon. "Fine."  
Caroline smiles back at him, "But you have to make it romantic."  
Damon smirks, "Oh come on, have you met me? I'm the epitomy of passion, romance practically oozes off me."  
Caroline rolls her eyes again, finishing of her own glass. "Okay, Prince Charming, let's see what ya got then."  
Damon retorted, "Well, I thought we could take a romantic carriage ride through the park in the middle of winter with fireworks going off... No Caroline, of course I don't have anything yet"  
"Okay good, I have plenty of ideas" Caroline smiles proudly at him.  
Damon rolls his eyes, "I would expect nothing less, Blondie."

 **R & R are always appreciated. I will posting the next chapter soon, the actual proposal. Hope you all enjoy. :)**


	2. Delena Proposal Part 2

_It's been two months since Damon and Caroline discussed and began planning the proposal._

 _Damon came up with the wonderful idea to recreate their first dance at Miss Mystic Falls. And it was Damon's idea to choose their anniversary of their first dance as the day to propose._

 _Caroline spent weeks perfecting the arrangements. Including choosing the perfect dress for Elena, one that was reminiscent of the one she wore to Miss Mystic Falls._

 _Finally, the day has arrived._

Elena is on a video chat with Bonnie and Enzo, who are currently visiting Spain, when Caroline enters the room.  
As Caroline walks in, she smiles as she states, "Sorry to interrupt, but, Elena can I borrow you for a few hours?"  
Elena turns to look at Caroline, "Uh sure, Care. Is everything okay?"  
Caroline smiles reassuringly, "Yep, everything's fine"

Elena smiles back, "Okay, Care. Just gotta say goodbye to the lovebirds over there."

Bonnie has a huge smile on her face, knowing why Caroline is taking Elena away. After Caroline and Damon had decided on the plans, Caroline couldn't wait to spill the beans to Bonnie. And of course, Bonnie told Enzo, he is her husband after all.

Elena smiles at Bonnie, "Okay, Bon. I'll talk to you guys soon."

Bonnie smiling, "Okay then. Call me later, Elena."

Enzo added with a huge smirk on his face, "Have fun, love."

Elena ended the video call, closing her laptop and turned back to face Caroline. "So Carebear, what are we doing today?"

Caroline can't contain her huge smile as she grabs Elena's hand, "You'll see. It's a surprise."

Elena follows Caroline out the door and to her car. When Elena sits down in the passenger seat, Caroline hands her a blindfold.

Elena looks at Caroline, "Seriously? Is this really necessary?"

Caroline smiles back at her, "Oh come on, Elena. It'll be fun. I want it to be a surprise."

Elena smiling back and grabbing the blindfold, "Okay fine, Care.

* * *

After what seemed like an hour drive, Caroline finally stopped somewhere and Elena got out of the car.

Elena, somewhat whiny, demands, "Caroline, where the hell are we?"

Caroline grabbed Elena's arm, escorting her to their destination, "I told you, it's a surprise. You'll see soon enough. Patience, Elena."

Elena scoffing, "Fine. But it better be something fun."

Caroline had a huge smile on her face as she responded, "Oh, trust me. It'll be something you'll never forget."

Elena was still unsure about this surprise, but she trusted Caroline. She was one of her best friends, practically her sister.

As the women entered a building, Caroline turned to Elena. "Hold on to me for a second, we have to go up some stairs. And I know how clumsy you can be, Elena."

Elena, somewhat defensive, "Hey, ever since I became a vampire, my coordination is a whole lot better." But as she says this, Elena slightly trips over the first step of the long staircase. Caroline catches her and Elena hears her hold back laughter, "Fine, let's go." Elena says with disgust in her voice.

Caroline uses her vampire speed to go up the stairs and into the dressing room. There are several mirrors set up, along with Elena's dress hanging on the back of the door. This is the exact room that they used all those years ago to prepare for Miss Mystic Falls.

Elena is starting to get impatient as she asks, "Can I take this blindfold off now?"

Caroline goes to take it off as she responds, "Yes, you can. Here let me help."

Once Elena has the blindfold off, she looks around the room as she tries to get a feel for her surroundings. She realizes exactly where they are. The Lockwood Mansion. Which means Caroline drove them around for over a half-an-hour to throw her off.

Elena turned to face Caroline, "What are we doing at the Lockwood Mansion?"

Caroline smiling and deflecting, "I told you. It's a surprise." Caroline walked over to the door and grabbed the dress, handing it to Elena. "Here, put this on."

Elena, slightly confused but she can't help but love the dress. It's blue, her favorite color. As she holds it out to look at it, it looks vaguely familiar. She realizes the dress looks somewhat like the one she wore for Miss Mystic Falls, all those years ago. "Uhhh, okay." She responded with a smile.

Caroline goes to head outside, "I'll be waiting right out here for you, when you're ready."

After Elena puts on the dress, she looks at herself in the mirror, admiring the dress. She pulls her hair out of the ponytail she had before and fixes it the best she can. Elena opens the door to come face to face with Caroline, who immediately begins messing with her hair and fixes it better than she could.

Once Caroline steps out of the way, Elena looks around the balcony of the staircase, noticing that there are decorations everywhere. It looks just like Miss Mystic Falls. Everything looks beautiful.

Elena then looks down to the bottom of the staircase and sees Damon. He's standing there, in a black suit, waiting for her. Just like he had done, nine years ago for Miss Mystic Falls.

Caroline goes up to Elena's ear and whispers, "Go ahead, Elena. He's waiting for you."

Elena takes a breath and begins walking down the stairs, carefully, so she doesn't trip in the heels that Caroline picked out for her.

As Elena reaches the bottom of the stairs, Damon offered his arm for her take, just like he had before. Elena couldn't help blushing when Damon whispered in her ear, "You look beautiful."

Damon escorted her outside to the patio, where they had had their first dance. As he let go of her arm, he turned to stand across from her.

Elena heard the music start playing, just like it had all those years ago. "All I Need" by Within Temptation, she loved that song.

Damon stepped forward and bowed in front of her, showing her that they were going to do the same dance that they had done for Miss Mystic Falls.

Elena followed his lead, because it had been quite a few years since she had practiced this dance. But after the first couple steps, everything came back to her. She remembered that this was the first time she had started to realize she might have feelings for Damon, as much as she tried to deny it. He was so handsome, just like he is now and she couldn't resist his charms, even though she tried so hard to do so. But as she danced in his arms, she couldn't believe she ever tried to deny it, because she loved him so much.

As they danced, she whispered in his ear, "Did you do all of this?"

Damon smiled and nodded towards Caroline heading out the door, knowing her job was done, "Well, I had a little help."

Elena smiled, "Everything's beautiful, Damon."

As he twirled her around at the end of the song, Elena turned back to face him. But she noticed that he was no longer standing in front of her. He was down on one knee. With an open jewelry box in his hand. It was an engagement ring. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was a beautiful diamond ring, with sapphires on either side. That was her birthstone and also her favorite color, blue.

Damon smiled up at her as he spoke, "Elena, for over 160 years, I never thought I'd get the chance to experience true love. Until I met you. You are warm and kind and you make me a better man with each passing day. I can't wait to spend an eternity with you. Elena Gilbert, _will you marry me_?"

Elena had tears in her eyes and she had the biggest smile on her face as she responded, "Yes, Damon. _I will marry you._ " She paused as she touches his cheek, "It's always been you."

Damon stood up and gently placed the ring on her hand. He then pulled her close to him and embraced her. Never wanting to let her go. She turned to face him and kissed him, passionately.

Neither of them wanted this moment to end. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Damon pulled away and whispered in her ear, "By the way. Caroline has already started planning the wedding."

Elena smiles and looks at him, "I don't doubt it."

Damon puts both his hand on her cheeks, looking intently into her eyes. "I love you, Elena."

Elena smiles back at Damon, with her arms wrapped around his neck, playing with his long dark hair. "I love you too, Damon." She pauses before adding, "Promise me this is forever."

Damon smiles, "I promise."

 _ **R & R are always appreciated. I was sooo excited to write this little one-shot. I love Damon and Elena so much! Let me know what you think. Hope you all enjoy! :)**_


End file.
